The 2024-25 Topps soccer card sets are upon us so now we have an idea of some of the 2024-25 Topps UEFA Soccer Rookie Cards in this year’s class. Let’s start off by stating the obvious. I would almost guarantee there won’t be a 2024-25 rookie that compares to Lamine Yamal, at least in the next year. That doesn’t mean one or more of these players can’t have a boom and surpass Yamal. It just won’t likely happen in the next year because there is no major country competition in the Summer of 2025 to get casuals excited. That next opportunity comes with the 2026 World Cup. There could still be some players that go up in the next year based on big game performance. It just won’t be on the biggest stage.
If you haven’t read past rookie breakdowns know that I only give details for attacking midfielders, wingers and strikers. Defenders and goalies usually don’t get enough love right now to worry about their rookies from an investment standpoint. I will add a blurb for a central midfielder for a player that is getting hobby love. Just know that I would guess central midfielders are were more hobby money is lost in prospect more than any positions. If you are going to invest on these type of positions I would probably only do so of players on hugely collectible clubs.
This breakdown, like everything on SCHQ, is not meant in anyway to be financial advice. It’s just to give you a better idea on the players since not everyone has time to dig up info on all these players. You will notice a common theme for some of these players is high potential but will need time. If you are trying to do the quick flip game some of these players won’t give you that opportunity and if anything you will likely lose money. I use the age of the playing season not their current age Players that show up in the early Topps releases will have a huge amount of rookie cards. Especially if they also fall under licenses that Panini has. The early releases, especially paper ones, are just a game of hot potato until the better sets come out. Treat them as such. Here is an article of soccer card rookie prospecting in these higher print run times
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2023-2024 Topps UEFA Soccer Rookie Cards
Pau Victor – Barcelona – Forward (Search On Ebay)
Pau is a forward for Barcelona which is why he is receiving hobby hype. The problem is he is in his age 22 season and will have a hard time putting up numbers on Barcelona. Yes, 22 is considered old these days when hobby prospecting. It doesn’t mean it can’t work. Viktor Gyokeres rookie cards are from his age 25 season and did well. It is just likely a short term play and in the case of Gyokeres he plays on a team where he is likely to get a big transfer that prospectors will dump on. If Pau gets a transfer it would be down and the hobby would likely not like that. He is immensely talented but a lot of immensely talented players are in his situation and they aren’t as old as he is.
Iker Losada – Real Betis – Forward (Search On Ebay)
Losada is another 23 year old forward playing in La Liga. Unlike Pau Victor he hasn’t even scored this season. That’s not a good sign for future hobby potential.
Marlon Gomes – FC Shakhtar Donetsk – Central Midfielder
Kevin Zeroli – AC Milan – Central Midfielder
Gianluca Prestianni – Benfica – Winger (Search On Ebay)
From what I have seen Prestianni is not getting much hype and it’s quite surprising to me. He is 18, an Argentinian (who Italy is also trying to lock up) tiny right winger, was named to The Guardian list and has a massive release clause. That is usually a recipe for hobby hype whether it is warranted or not. I guess because he has not done much in his limited senior time, but that has never stopped the hobby before.
Quinten Timber – Feyenoord – Central Midfielder (Search On Ebay)
Timber is getting a bit of hobby hype because he is likely going to get a big move. He is also the captain of Feyenoord and plays for the Netherlands. That is be a good resume for a rookie. The problem is he is 23 and as we have seen when transfers like this happen to big clubs, the collectors of those clubs prefer the cards in that team’s kit and not necessarily the rookie. There may be a small window here if he ends up on the right team but the window will likely be small.
Unai Hernandez – Barcelona – Central Midfielder
Ken Izekor – Bayer Leverkusen – Forward (Search On Ebay)
Izekor is another player that I am surprised is not getting much hobby hype. He is a German 17 year old forward who is Bayer Leverkusen’s youngest ever player. The potential return wouldn’t come for a while. Maybe the hobby has matured to the point where it’s not longer about possibly making money on a prospect to needing to make money in the very short term.
Matty Warhurst – Manchester City – Forward (Search On Ebay)
Warhurst is a 17 year old forward in the City Academy. With City’s scouting and track record that means Warhurst is probably a pretty good player. Problem is he has an Erling Haaland sized problem to get senior minutes to make the hobby happy. If he is to perform at the senior level it will likely end up somewhere else like say Liam Delap. Delap has turned out to be a pretty solid player but you wouldn’t know that by his prices. Of course there is always Cole Palmer as well.
Jesper Uneken – PSV Eindhoven – Forward (Search On Ebay)
Jesper is a 20 year old forward who has played 1 senior game and scored 1 senior goal. If he can keep up that ratio BUY BUY BUY. Problem was that was last season and this season he back in the second division. He does score goals there so there may be something here. He is just going to need to start getting senior chances before he gets too old and the hobby gives up on him.
Endrick – Real Madrid – Forward (Search On Ebay)
If you are reading this you probably already know who Endrick is. He has as much potential as anyone in this list. He just chose to transfer to a team where getting playing time was always going to be tough. Eventually he is probably going to be a prolific goal scorer. I just can’t tell you when or for what team.
I will say since this is a 2024-25 Topps preview all of his Topps rookies are WOOKIES! A Wookie is a card that has a RC but the player already had cards from the previous season. In this case Endrick has 2023-24 Panini rookie cards (Search On Ebay). If you have been following me for any amount of time you know how much I hate wookies. I think they are so bad for the hobby. For Endrick in particular the only way I see these Topps cards having long term value compared to his true rookies is if he becomes a Madrid legend.
Kassoum Ouattara – Monaco – Defender
Lucas Bergvall – Tottenham Hotspur – Attacking Midfielder (Search On Ebay)
Lucas Bergvall is one of the 2024-25 Topps true rookies that is getting the most hobby hype. He’s 18 and chose Spurs over Barcelona over the summer. I have listed him as an attacking midfielder as that has been his position for most of his career. With that said he has recently been put in as a 6 for Spurs after having a not great run as an 8 so far this season. An 8 is not ideal for hobby purposes and a 6 is even worse unless your name is Rodri and you win a Ballon D’Or. This could just be a temporary thing but it would scare me if I was buying on Flagship release.
Kjell Watjen – Borussia Dortmund – Central Midfielder
Tygo Land – PSV Eindhoven – Central Midfielder
Rafael Nel – Sporting CP – Forward
Rafael Nel is a 19 year old Portuguese forward. He doesn’t have much of a resume so far and is currently playing for Sporting CP B and not doing all that much there either.
Cesare Casadei – Chelsea – Central Midfielder
Givairo Read – Feyenoord – Defender
Justin Oboavwoduo – Manchester City – Winger (Search On Ebay)
A lot of what I said for Matty Warhurst can be said for 18 year old Justin Oboavwoduo with one exception. Oboavwoduo is not blocked by Erling Haaland. The City wingers especially right wingers have been awful this year. That said Oscar Bobb will probably be coming back from injury soon and City paid a ton for Savio.
Noah Darvich – Barcelona – Attacking Midfielder (Search On Ebay)
Darvich is an 18 year old attacking mid for Barcelona which will play well in the hobby. He’s currently German international although he has lots of international options. He is blocked by a lot of great players and I am not sure he will score enough to get the hobby excited.
Kevin – Shakhtar Donetsk – Winger
Kevin is a 21 year old Brazilian winger who a few in the hobby are mentioning likely because of his Champions League goal against Bayern Munich. At his age I don’t know how much long term potential is there but a move to a bigger club is likely so he will get a possible bump on that.
Ethan Nwaneri – Arsenal – Attacking Midfielder (Search On Ebay)
Ethan Nwaneri is the other big Wookie in this class. He is getting a lot of hobby hype and deservedly so. He is 17 and getting time for Arsenal, who are one of the big hobby teams. He scored his first EPL recently to go with his 3 EFL Cup goals he has scored this year. I have more faith in Nwaneri Topps wookies (again wookies mostly suck) than Endrick for 2 reasons. One being I think it’s much more likely he makes a near term impact at Arsenal than another team. The other is because all of the Nwaneri Panini rookie cards (Search On Ebay) used the Arsenal yellow away jersey. Topps will use the traditional red home jersey which will provide for a better color match with their highly desired Red parallels for those that can afford them.
Jaden Slory – Feyenoord – Winger (Search On Ebay)
Jaden Slory is a 19 year old winger who is currently on loan at Dordrecht in the Eerste Divisie which isn’t the best sign for the hobby but at least he has scored a handful of goals.
Vinícius Tobias – FC Shakhtar Donetsk – Defender
Archie Gray – Tottenham Hotspur – Defender
Senny Mayulu – Paris Saint-Germain – Central Midfielder
Zeno Debast – Sporting CP – Defender
Ethan Wheatley – Manchester United – Forward (Search On Ebay)
Ethan Wheatley is an 18 year old English striker that plays for Manchester United. That is a pretty lethal hobby combo and I am sure his release prices will reflect that. He has scored 5 goals in 6 games for the United U21 team so the scoring is there. My concern for Wheatley is near term playing time as United have signed 2 young forwards recently and there is probably another big signing on the way. Definitely feels like one to wait on.
Trey Nyoni – Liverpool – Central Midfielder (Search On Ebay)
Trey Nyoni gets a writeup as a center mid because he is 17, English, really good and plays for Liverpool. He likely won’t ever be a player the hobby adores because of his position. That said I can see Liverpool collectors, of which there are many, wanting his better cards.
Jayden Danns – Liverpool – Forward (Search On Ebay)
Jayden Danns is an 18 year old English striker who plays for Liverpool. Another great hobby combo. He is another player who is a 2024-25 Topps wookie because of his 2023-24 Panini Rookie Cards (Search On Ebay) and unlike Endrick and Nwaneri he has Bowman 1st cards from 2022-23 Topps Liverpool Lineage (Search On Ebay). That is a lot of cards to compete with his 2024-24 Topps rookie cards. If he turns out to be a generational talent maybe he can overcome all those rookie cards, but I would look to his earlier stuff if you want to invest in him.
Mikey Moore – Tottenham Hotspur – Winger (Search On Ebay)
Mikey Moore is a 17 year old English winger who has been getting time with Spurs this season. He has yet to break through with a goal but just getting senior time at his age shows his potential. He has been a prolific scorer at the youth level despite playing up in age. If I had to invest in a Spurs prospect it would clearly be Moore over Bergvall. At least there is a chance at true hobby stardom if everything were to pan out, which is rarely does when prospecting. I’ll say it again since this is the last player. It is really hard to prospect in soccer so keep that in mind when buying.
If you want to take a walk down memory lane to see my past rookie breakdowns to see what I got right and wrong here is the 2023-24 Topps Soccer Rookie Breakdown, 2022-23 Topps Soccer Rookie Breakdown and 2021-22 Topps Merlin Rookie Breakdown.
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